Redemption
by monochrome.monarch
Summary: When the world falls apart, our redemption is within one another. Sequal to Re:Revelations!
1. Song of Mercy

**A/N:** _wow, hey everybody. So after, like, a two (was it two?) year hiatus, Allena finally sees her return. I know this story is long overdue, and I hope you guys will forgive me for that. A lot has changed in my life- I've graduated from high school (a while ago, actually) and now I'm planning on moving out on my own. I reread Revelations the other night and realized how very much I'd loved this story, and how much I'd had planned for the character of Allena Duke. So, here I am, bringing back a story I should have brought back a long time ago. Hopefully my writing skills have matured haha, we'll see. Also, regarding my handle change- I no longer have access to the email account linked to , and I can't remember the password (d'oh) so I'm using this account now. Hopefully all the people who read Revelations will find this story._

_Without further ado, here's Gears of War: Redemption_

**Gears of War and all characters and places are copyrighted to Epic Games, and in no way belong to me.**

"Dizzy, I thought you said this place was occupied."

Dom hopped out of the back of the pick-up, glancing around at the  
town of Mercy. It was eerily quiet, the only signs of disturbance  
coming from their trucks- if Mercy had any kind of population, they  
kept very well hidden.

"Yeah, this place was busier then a fiddler's elbow a few months  
ago," Dizzy said, his accent thicker when he was troubled or  
confused. He pulled off his worn cowboy hat and scratched his head  
as he looked around, a frown settling on his face.

"People don't abandon a fuel depot for no reason," he said, turning  
to face the group. Marcus only grunted stoicly, although Dom could  
tell something was on his mind- something about this felt all sorts  
of wrong.

"Okay," he said after a beat, turning to Anya, Jace, and Sam. "Keep  
an eye out for grubs. We may need to get out fast." Dizzy turned  
away from the group as Marcus gave his instructions, wandering over  
to a rusted red box.

"Well, shit," he exclaimed, slapping his hat against his thigh.  
"Looks like they shut down the main pump."

"Well, the controls have to be somewhere along this pipeline," Dom  
reasoned, pointing down the line. Dizzy muttered something that  
seemed to be consent, peering down the line as far as he could.

"Dizzy, Jace, you stay here," Marcus ordered, ever the sergeant.  
"We'll go check out the town." Dizzy and Jace voiced affirmatives as  
Marcus waved for the others to fall in. Dom came in on his right,  
Anya on his left, with Sam pulling up the rear. They entered the  
town low and fast, lancers up and trigger fingers ready. They could  
all feel it- the deep, inate sense that something was terribly,  
terribly wrong.

"Hello," Sam called out, her voice reverberating through the still,  
dead air. "Anybody home? We just need some fuel!" The path before  
them was blocked- Marcus pointed them to an old, rusty door at the  
side of the building next to them, his foot crashing through it like  
metal through wet tissue paper. Dom couldn't help but let his eyes  
wander, picking out vaguely familiar sights that made him both  
elated and extremely sick. There were memories here, far more  
personal than he'd like to handle. Sam came up a little closer,  
seeming to sense his distress.

"When were you last here, Dom?" Her voice came out soft and low, her  
eyes flickering across the area before them. He shrugged almost  
uncomfortably, tallying up the years in his mind.

"Fifteen years...," he finally said, the numbers seeming about  
right. "Maria's family- they're buried near the church. I wanted to  
bury her and the kids there, but..." The words had come out before  
he could stop them, and they left a huge, aching hole in his chest.  
He actually winced, the pain swift and deep and merciless. He shoved  
the thoughts aside, a steely resolve settling over him, but not  
before Sam could give him a sympathetic look. He only nodded and  
looked straight ahead, keeping his gaze just off of Marcus'  
shoulder. He needed to stay in the moment- now was not the time to  
grieve.

They continued on in relative silence, following the pipeline while  
keeping eyes on their surroundings. Mercy was completely deserted,  
it seemed, and the difference between now and the place he'd known  
fifteen years ago was disconcerting and a bit scary.

"Hey, wait," Sam suddenly said, pulling the group to a stop. "Look,  
the pipeline's rigged." Dom caught sight of a device attached to the  
pipes, and paled- he knew an improvised explosive when he saw one.

"Stay sharp, people, could be an ambush," Marcus growled, his lancer  
held at the ready as he approached the device cautiously.

"Look out, it's got a motion sensor," Anya said, as the device  
beeped. Marcus dropped his Lancer and hurriedly disarmed the bomb,  
grunting as he finished the work and got back to his feet. Dom  
exhaled, relief flooding through him.

"Well... so far, so good," Sam said grimly, as they moved away from  
the explosive and continued to follow the line.

"There's no signs of fighting... or grubs," Anya noted, sounding  
worried. They were all thinking of the same possibilities- ambush,  
either from grubs, lambent, or crazed Stranded.

"Look, another charge," Sam hissed. They fanned out to cover Marcus  
as he disarmed the device yet again. Dom felt something crawl down  
his spine, and he knew he was being watched- but from where, or by  
whom, he couldn't tell. The town was too still, too cluttered with  
debris and dilapitated buildings that he couldn't spot a clear  
threat.

"Clear," Marcus said, and the group moved out, along a walkway that  
showed more of the town beneath them.

"Marcus, we've got another charge," Sam said, having taken point.  
She had a quicker, keener eye than Marcus, and was apparently very  
good at finding the explosives.

"Someone obviously wanted to blow some shit up," Marcus grumbled, as  
he finished disarming the bomb. They went up another set of steps  
and around a corner, and were met by the sound of a gunshot tearing  
through the air.

"Take cover," Marcus roared, as the four instinctively found a place  
to hide. High caliber weapon, maybe a sniper rifle, Dom's mind  
snapped out, as he peered around for the threat. An old man in  
threadbare clothes stood in the middle of the courtyard before them,  
a gun craddled in his arms like it was a child. "Hey, check fire,"  
Marcus shouted at him. "We're Gears!"

"Get your hands off those goddamn charges," he snapped at them,  
obviously agitated. Marcus growled, and before Dom could stop him,  
he stepped out into the open, his eyes narrowed and fixed on the  
man.

"Did you rig those pipelines," he asked accusingly. "You wanna blow  
this place up?"

"Yeah! I gotta stop this thing from spreading," the old man cried  
out, and Dom could hear the desperation in his voice as he backed  
away from Marcus. "Just let me get on with the job!" He staggered  
back into the building behind him and struggled to pull the door  
shut as the others came out of cover.

"What thing," Dom asked skeptically. "You got an epidemic?"

"How the hell should I know what it is?" The old man continued to  
struggle with the door, pausing when it was almost closed. "It's,  
it's, it' some kind of... fever! People started burnin' up,  
screamin' and fightin', going crazy!" Dom and Marcus exchanged  
glances- this was news. "I'll be damned if I'm going to turn up like  
that, like some rabid dog, not even human anymore!" Dom could hear  
the desperation in his voice, how frantic he was, which told him how  
dire the situation must be. Marcus approached the door before the  
man could close it, grabbing the edge and pushing it back open  
easily.

"You better come with us," he said, towering over the man as he  
scrambled back. "We can get you some help."

"No, it's too late," the man screamed in terror, the whites of his  
eyes showing. "Leave me alone!" He turned and bolted before Marcus  
could grab him, disappearing from sight.

"Wait, come back," Sam yelled after him, following Marcus into the  
building. "We need to know where else you've laid charges!" Dom and  
Anya brought up the rear as Marcus sighed, shaking his head before  
motioning them forward and into the building.

"Well, he was, ah, interesting," Dom said, slightly unnerved.

"Well, whatever fever he was talking about, I hope it's not  
contagious," Sam said, in such a way that Dom wouldn't be surprised  
if she tilted her nose up and sniffed in disdain.

"Let's just follow the pipeline, and get the pump started," Marcus  
said, breaking through the chatter and refocusing the group. They  
continued on across another courtyard and through a building,  
hopping down into a chamber that was lit by flickering torches set  
on the wall.

"Oh god, look," Sam said, pointing as they came around the corner.  
Dom inhaled sharply at the sight before them- the old man lay on the  
ground, his throat torn open as his eyes stared glassily at the wall  
before him. "I wonder what got the poor bastard."

"Well, whatever it was, it wasn't a fever," Marcus snorted, eyeing  
the man's body before turning to survey the area for a possible  
threat. Dom did the same, ticking through a list of things that  
could have done this- wretches? Nah, they would have seen them by  
now. Maybe another Stranded who was tired of the mad old man running  
around and threatening to blow up the whole town. It was a more  
probably answer, but it didn't feel like the right one, and Dom  
prided himself in having a pretty good sense of a situation.  
Whatever was going on here, it was something they hadn't faced  
before. They continued down into the sewers, the walls around them  
coming closer and closer together.

"Close quarters down here," Marcus noted gruffly, stopping and  
turning to face them. "We'll split up, give each other a little  
elbow room. Dom, Sam, go right." Dom made eye contact with Sam, both  
nodding as they turned to their sector. "Anya, stick with me." Dom  
wondered, deep down inside, if Marcus had any ulterior motives with  
the splitting. It was more him being fanficul than anything else, he  
decided after a moment- Marcus was pretty black and white. Besides,  
as much of a brute as everyone liked to see him as, dark, cramped,  
smelly sewers were not his style.

Dom could see Anya and Marcus as they came around a corner and  
stepped into a passage below them. He spotted a lone figure crouched  
at the end, maybe a woman, her hands near her face and low groans  
coming from her throat.

"Ma'am, are you alright," Marcus asked, as he and Anya cautiously  
approached her. For all they knew, she'd been the one to off the old  
man. "Who did this?"

It was a still, tense moment, time slowing to a crawl as the lady  
lifted her head to look at them. Dom's eyes widened as he caught the  
yellow glow of imulsion, of sickness and infection, a growl escaping  
her throat as she got to her feet.

"She's lambent," Sam yelled, sounding as surprised as Dom felt.  
"It's spreading to humans!" The revelation seemed to draw more out  
of the woodworks, as Marcus quickly finished off the one before them  
as she launched at him and Anya. Dom couldn't watch much more, as a  
lambent human came running down the walk at him with arms stretched  
out. He fired into the creature and downed him as another came  
running, and another behind that, screams and bullet chatter filling  
the air.

"Marcus, they're everywhere," he shouted down to the other man,  
fighting his way through the horde.

"We gotta find a way out of here," Marcus instructed from below, the  
sound of his chainsaw revving reverberating through the air. "Go,  
move!" They ran through the passage ways, shooting their way through  
waves of Lambent humans. Dom realized grimly that he finally knew  
exactly why the town had been so empty of life.

Finally, they found a moment of reprieve, as they found a way to  
escape the hellish nightmare of the sewers. "Is that what we're  
going to become," Sam asked, her voice full of dread. "Former  
humans?"

"It was my great idea to come here," Dom said, hating how miserable  
he sounded but unable to help it much. This place was just  
oppresive. "Sorry Marcus."

"It's just as well that we did," Marcus said, as close to comforting  
as Marcus usually got. "Now we know the whole human race could go  
Lambent if we don't do something about it." It made Dom feel a bit  
better, more than Marcus' brisk analysis might have done for anyone  
else, but it still wasn't a lot. They climbed out into the open  
hair, a cool breeze caressing Dom's cheek softly as he inhaled the  
fresh, sweet air. He hated sewers, and small, cramped places. If  
they could avoid doing that again, he'd do anything they asked of  
him.

They came into another courtyard, and Dom realized he knew this  
place- they were close to the church. He felt sick, and it must of  
shown, because Sam was at his elbow, asking if he was alright. He  
nodded as he leaned against the crumbling fountain, looking up to  
where he knew the belltower of the church would be. He knew it  
wasn't the time nor the place, but he suddenly needed to go there,  
to find his wife's family and say sorry. To apologize for not  
protecting Maria, for not protecting the kids, and to maybe find  
some closure.

"We got more lambent," Anya shouted suddenly, drawing their  
attention to the courtyard. The lambent were moving in from the dar  
side, forcing the Gears to back up into the steps of what had once  
been the town hall.

"Hey! Over here!"

The group looked up and spotted a lone figure waving to them  
frantically from atop the balcony above, thin and forlorn against  
the stone behind them. "Can you get to the machine gun? It's fully  
loaded!" the figure called in a voice that was definitely female,  
and that tugged at something in Dom's memory. He couldn't tell much  
about her except that she was thin and had inky, short hair that  
barely brushed her shoulders. That was all he could get before she  
looked over her shoulder and moved away from the balcony,  
disappearing from view. Dom glanced at Marcus- something about the  
female had gotten to him too, he could see it in the way his brow  
furrowed, hear it in the small "huh" that escaped his lips.

It wasn't hard to find the machine gun, sitting in the open like a  
christmas present, and soon they were blasting through the ghostly,  
glowing hordes of gaunt human shapes. Dom was sure he'd have  
nightmares about those figures for ages to come, about how they just  
disintegrated in a puff of smoke when shot at. The machine gun  
definitely helped them mow through the wave of ghouls, and Dom found  
himself falling into the old rhythm of aim, pull, breath, aim, pull,  
reload. Before he knew it, the courtyard had been cleared.

"Hey, quick," the girl from before called, kicking down the ladders.  
"Get up here!

Dom followed Sam up, pulling the ladder in behind him before joining  
her inside. Anya and Marcus were already in there, and staring at  
the balcony like... well, like they'd seen a ghost. Anya was pale,  
her mouth opened in an o of surprise, and even Marcus looked like  
he'd had one pulled over on him. He turned to see what they were  
looking at, and instantly understood why.

The silence that fell over them was heavy and palpable, charged with  
shock and... fear? Dom couldn't tear his eyes away from the girl,  
but he was sure Marcus and Anya were feeling the same things as him.  
He almost couldn't believe it, and didn't dare to hope, although  
he'd never known any other female with such dark hair and such  
clear, icy eyes.

"Allena," Anya finally said, her voice small and hesitant as it  
broke the silence. The girl only stared at them, eyes wide open in  
surprise, her mouth opening and closing several times before she  
just nodded in stunned disbelief. "Oh, my god..."

"Is it really you?" Dom found his voice, pushing past the statue  
that was Marcus to the bottom of the steps. Upon closer inspection,  
there was no mistaking who she was- she had developed a slight tan,  
and she was scrawnier now than she had ever been, but he recognized  
those eyes, and the scar that sat high on her cheekbone. "How are  
you alive?" She only stared wordlessly, her eyes fixed on Dom as he  
took a hesitant step closer. With her on the platform of the  
balcony, she was very nearly the same height as him. She searched  
his face, a plethora of emotions dancing across her face faster than  
he could read them.

"Are you hurt," Marcus asked, as if this was a perfectly normal  
situation, as if Allena had simply been a soldier seperated from the  
pack for a short while. Which she kind of was, except a short while  
had been a year and a half. Her gaze drifted to him, and she seemed  
to find herself again, straightening up as she shook her head.

"I'm alright," she said, then glanced at them. "What about you? Did  
those things touch you at all?"

"We're okay," Anya confirmed, still shaky from shock. Dom couldn't  
help but stare at Allena, still unable to believe it. Allena was  
here, she was alive and real and here in front of them. How she had  
survived, he couldn't figure out, but the scars of her fight to live  
showed clearly on her body.

"We need to get out of here," Allena said, turning to Marcus. She'd  
shaken off some of the surprise, although her eyes still had a  
vaguely shell-shocked look to them. "That was one of the worst  
attacks this week. If you guys hadn't been here..." Her words  
trailed off, the implication clear. Dom realized she wasn't just  
trembling from shock- there was relief, too, the kind that came with  
knowing there was a chance to survive after the odds seemed stacked  
against you, the kind that Dom was intimately familiar with.

"Are there any other survivors," Sam asked, unphased by the  
familiarity the others shared with this stranger. Allena averted her  
gaze to her worn, scuffed boots, shaking her head.

"Just me," she confirmed, her voice tight. Dom felt a pang of pity  
for her- just what had she gone through, the past 18 months? He  
rested a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump slightly. Her  
shoulder was tense under his hand, but she didn't shrug him off.

"Let's go," he said softly, squeezing gently to reassure her that  
everything would be okay. She nodded and gave him a ghost of a  
smile, and he realized he couldn't find any traces of the girl he'd  
met what seemed like a lifetime ago. She held her pistol steady in  
her hands and nodded to Marcus, alert and ready to take orders.

"Alright, let's finish this job and get back," Marcus said after a  
moment. He gave Dom a brief look, one that said they'd need to talk  
later, before motioning for them to fall into position behind him.  
Allena fell into place behind Sam, and Dom wondered how they were  
going to bring her back home.


	2. Ave Maria

The past few days had felt like a surreal nightmare for Allena, and the current events had her feeling more and more like she'd been stuck in a dream for a very long time. Dom, Marcus, Anya, all here with her, saving her from the hell she'd been enduring, appearing like guardian angels from thin air. She didn't recognize the female in front of her, and part of her yearned to know what had become of Cole and Baird, but now wasn't the time for catching up, and she still didn't quite trust that this was all real.

"Can you fill us in on what's happened here," Sam asked, glancing back at her. She blinked once, taking a moment to process the request, then trying to find a place to begin.

"We thought it was just rust lung," she finally said, as they went back outside. "But it got far worse than anything we'd ever seen before." She chewed on her bottom lip, trying to quell the rise of emotions that suddenly came over her. She could feel Dom's eyes boring into her, but she kept her eyes trained straight ahead, pushing everything away. "We tried to help, but in the end, as they began to go mad, all we could do was lock them up somewhere safe, hope we could figure out what was happening and try and prevent a spread." She noticed they had all fallen silent, listening to her. She exhaled shakily, then shook her head. "It didn't spare anyone. I honestly don't even know if I'm infected or not. I was only here for a little bit, got here just before things started getting bad, but you never know." She fixed her gaze on Marcus, who had pulled the group to a stop as he figured out which way to go. "Do me a favor," she said, drawing his attention. They all stopped to look at her, even the woman she didn't know. "If I start running a fever, and if it looks like I'm going to loose it, do us all a favor and shoot me in the head." The silence was overwhelming; a pin drop would have reverberated in that alleyway.

"I'm sure it won't come to that," Anya began, her face pale. Marcus only nodded to her, their eyes meeting for just a second.

"You know where the main power switch is for the fuel line," he asked, bringing a merciful change of subject. She nodded an affirmative, and he motioned for her to take point. "You lead the way then. We've got to turn it on, then get the hell out of here." She knew Dom was staring, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him as she passed him, taking a right and leading them through the maze of alleys. They came out in a courtyard, an eerie silence looming over them. She froze as the others came in behind her, listening for any sign of movement...

Her body reacted before her mind even registered what was happening. A Former came charging at them from an open doorway, arms outstretched and ready to grab her. "Contact," she screamed, already sighting in on the target as more began to spill into the courtyard. It was a full-blown attack, forcing them to move into the center of the open space as more and more of the Formers began to spill out. It was all she could do to keep focused, to keep the fear from rising inside her and causing her to balk._ You have friends at your back,_ her mind whispered. _You know they'll protect you._

It still took all of her might to keep her hand steady and her aim true.

"Allena, watch out," she heard Dom shout, as something swiped at her arm, nails raking across her skin. She cursed loudly and jumped away, loosing her balance and landing on her butt on the hard ground. She scrambled back as the attacking Former rushed her, teeth gritted as she tried to get her aim while fighting to keep distance. Just as the Former was about to leap on her, it's head exploded in a puff of smoke, and someone was picking her up by the collar, setting her on her feet.

"I've got you," Dom said from beside her, sticking by her side as they found new targets. She only inhaled and nodded, her hands shaking at the close call she'd just had.

It seemed like eternity before the courtyard finally cleared, the dust settling around them. Dom had stayed by her side through the whole fight, and she was starting to find a sense of security she hadn't known in a long time.

"Everyone alright," Marcus asked, as the group assessed themselves. Allena turned to Dom, inhaling slowly to try and calm her racing heart.

"Thank you," she told him, reaching out to put a hand on his arm. He gave her a smile, and she noticed how tired he looked, how entirely beat up he seemed. It was the first time she'd gotten a good look at him, and she could spot all the differences in his face- lines of worry, of sadness, the white hairs in his thick, dark hair and beard. She almost asked, but he didn't give her the chance to, indicating Marcus with a nod of his head.

"We should get going," he said gently, reaching to give her hand a squeeze before removing it from his arm. "Before more of those things attack."

"Right," she said hesitantly, before turning and motioning for the others to follow her. She led them up the steps to the right of the courtyard, then stopped, a frown on her face as she found the gate before her closed. "Shit," she muttered to herself. "Usually they keep this open."

"Nothing we can't handle," Dom said easily. He and Marcus went and pulled the heavy gate up, letting the women walk through before they ducked under and let it fall shut. The pipeline sat before them, glistening in the late-afternoon sun.

"Alright, we're clear. For now," Marcus grunted, eyeing the pipeline.

"The pipeline runs through the church," Allena informed them, noticing the uneasy look that flashed over Dom's face as she turned back to look at them. "We should be close to the main switch."

"I'm bloody well not going to end up like them," the other female in the group suddenly said, a grim look on her face. "I will not." She had an accent to her voice, although she couldn't quite place where it came from. Maybe it was Kashkuri.

"You won't, Sam," Dom said soothingly, giving a name to the girl. "I've got your back." She glanced back, and he nodded as if to say "I've got yours, too." She only managed a tight smile before heading up the slope to the church.

"The grubs are going to be here soon," Anya informed them, from somewhere behind Allena. "We need to fuel up and get out of here."

"Let's hurry this up," Marcus instructed, and Allena picked up the pace, jogging up the hill that led to where the pump was. They skirted around the church and into the side courtyard, weaving through a smaller gate to the back of the church.

"There," Allena said, coming to a stop and pointing.

"Dom, we'll take care of the pump," Marcus said, glancing back at Dom. Allena watched as they made some sort of silent exchange, all pointed looks and tilts of the head.

"Thanks, but don't wait for me if anything goes wrong," Dom finally said, turning to head towards the cemetary.

"Just make it fast," Marcus said, sounding uncomfortable. Marcus, Anya, and Sam continued on as Dom went to the cemetary, his shoulders seeming to droop with each step he took. Allena bit her lip, hesitatant to leave Dom alone.

"You better come with us," Sam said, noticing her stop. She gave Dom one last look, then complied, trotting after the others. "He's gonna need some alone time," Sam explained, as Allena caught up with her. "His wife's family is over there."

"Oh," Allena said, startled. How many times had she walked past that cemetary, not knowing that Dom's family was right there?

"Allena, you said you were here just before the Lambency started," Anya said, pulling the focus onto Allena. She could see the questions on her face- where had you been before that? How did you survive? Allena nodded, cutting off the question she knew was coming.

"Yeah. Two months, I think. I lost track. But when I first got here, this town was full of life." She looked around, noting all the places where people should have been, and weren't. Her chest ached slightly, but she had long since gotten over the pain of watching a whole town die without her.

"Must have been rough," Sam said, a sympathetic look on her face. Allena shrugged one shoulder, thinking of where she'd been before that.

"As far as most places go, it was pretty good here," she told them. "We had supplies, we had people to protect the perimeter, it was safe from the outside. We just didn't have the knowledge or supplies to try and fight what was killing us from the inside."

"We can play catch-up later," Marcus interrupted, as they stepped into the pavillion where the pump was. "Let's get this pump started and get the hell out of here." Dom caught up with them as Marcus reached the first switch, watching the other man struggle with the rusted switch before flipping out his knife for Marcus to use as leverage. Sam and Anya stepped back to let him take the second switch. Within seconds the pump came spluttering to life, bleching thick smoke from it's pipes as it chugged into working capacity.

"Dizzy, the fuel's online, stand by," Marcus said, his finger pressed to one ear. Allena perked up slightly at another familiar name, but before she got to ask a loud screech broke through the air.

"It's coming from the church," Anya said, pointing as the others moved to join her. They all watched as the boarded up doors began to tremble, something throwing itself against the other side.

"I don't think that's the choir," Dom commented, earning a grunt from Marcus.

"A lot of people went there when they were sick," Allena said, the blood draining from her face. "They told the villagers to board them in."

"And then they all turned," Sam finished grimly, as the wooden boards began to give way.

"We finish this bunch, and then we get the hell out of here," Marcus said, reloading his Lancer.

"Do you think that guy laid enough explosives to blow the whole town?" Dom wondered, as he followed suite.

"What guy?" Allena frowned-someone had been setting explosives? Who the hell had gotten that desperate?

"Some crazy bastard we found when we first got here," Sam explained. "He planted explosives all along the pipeline. There's probably not enough to blow the town, but there'd be enough to put a big hole in it."

"We'll have to settle for slowing them down," Marcus grunted, as the wooden beams nailed across the door began to give and clatter to the sidewalk. The doors suddenly burst outward, and the Formers came pouring out.

"Shit, there's so many of them," Allena said through gritted teeth, her words lost in the clatter of gunfire. Allena rolled out of the way as a Former vaulted over the wall at her, her bullet drilling a neat hole in it's skull as it turned to face her. She sighted in on her next target, steadying her hand before pulling the trigger.

Click.

She froze, her blood running cold at the sound of an empty magazine. She looked up and jumped out of the way as a Former charged at her, knocking it aside with her pistol.

"I'm out of ammo," she shouted frantically, trying to keep distance between her and several Formers. They chased her along the wall, cornering her between a statue and the wall. She jumped and grabbed onto the statue, swinging herself up out of reach as a Former swiped at her. The monsters crowded at the foot of the statue, screaming and clawing as she climbed up to a spot safely out of their reach. "Ugly little shits," she spat at the Formers as they scrambled to get to her, finding some strange satisfaction at taunting the creatures. It helped her hate them, helped her distance them from the people they had once been.

Soon the fire shifted in her direction, as the others cleared out the Formers that clammored at the base of the statue. When the last one had fallen, she climbed down from her perch, landing in the dust left behind.

"I should have checked my ammo beforehand," she said contritely, lowering her head as Marcus and the others reached her. Marcus only grunted, then reached up to contact Dizzy.

"Don't sweat it," Anya told her. "I didn't check either, I just got lucky. Here, take this." She reached back and retrieved her gnasher, handing the shotgun to Allena as she holstered her pistol. It was heavy in her hands, a lot heavier than her pistol, but she knew how to handle it.

"Thanks," Allena said gratefully, cracking the shotgun to check the ammo.

"What's the fastest way back to the fuel station," Marcus asked, turning to face them.

"Cut through the vaults under the church," Dom told him. "It used to be an air raid station during the pendulum wars."

"Better hope we've cleaned out the Lambent," Sam said, examining the room cautiously. Dom pointed to the entrance to the vaults- it was boarded up, but it wasn't a challenge for Marcus' Lancer. He knocked away the peices of wood to make the opening big enough to pass through, then led them onto a pathway, the heavy smell of Imulsion assaulting their noses.

"Ugh! Smell those Imulsion fumes," Dom said, as Allena threw a hand up over her mouth and nose. "Never used to be like this."

"Hey Marcus- your father thinks it's Imulsion that's killing Sera, right?" Allena looked up at Marcus as he vaulted up onto a platform, the man silent as he mulled over the question.

"Yeah, we killed to get this stuff," he said, sounding weary. "Now it's killing us." They were silent as they went through the vault, Marcus' words making too much sense. How many good people had they lost, fighting the wars for control over the fields? How many more soldiers could there have been to help fight off the real threat, if they'd known what they knew now? Allena pushed the thought away- it was too much, and thinking about things that couldn't be changed wouldn't help them now.

"Yo, Marcus, we got grubs up on the highway," Dom called out, one hand pressed to his ear.

"Is the tanker ready to go," Marcus asked, picking up speed until they were all but sprinting down the tunnels. She couldn't hear Dizzy's response, but from the grimace on Marcus' face she knew it couldn't be good. "Ah shit," he grumbled to himself. "Alright, leave the damn thing! Get to the pick-up." They raced for the end of the tunnel, reaching the service elevator that would take them down to the part of the vaults that opened into the highway.

As soon as the elevator touched ground, they all ran for the opening, the last fingers of sunlight splashing over them as they burst into the clean, fresh air. Allena sucked in a great lungfull of it to try and clear the stench of Imulsion that stuck to the back of her throat.

"Marcus! Come on, we're good to go!"

Allena peered between Dom and Marcus, her face lighting up when she spotted Dizzy. She'd never figured out what had happened to him, all those months ago when they'd gone into the hollow, and it brought inexplicable happiness to see that he'd survived. Before Marcus coud respond, the ground below them rocked, an explosion from behind them sending a spray of pebbles into the air. Dom grabbed her and pulled her behind cover and grubs came pouring out.

"Boomer, keep your heads down," Marcus roared, ducking down as the Boomer let his load off into the air. He missed them narrowly, the ground shaking underneath them as the round exploded too close for comfort.

"Shit, guess they decided on a Boomer welcoming party," Allena muttered, ducking as a Boomer fired at her and Dom, another one coming out from the tunnel behind it. Dom only chuckled grimly and shook his head, sharing a glance with her.

"Coulda been worse," he reasoned. She only shrugged, popping up to let off a round at a grub who got too close. The shotgun wasn't great on distance, so she was stuck picking off any locusts who got into range, which happened to be very few. The Gears were ifficient, but there didn't seem to be any ease in the flow of locusts that streamed from the tunnel.

"Watch our flank, we got grapplers coming up the side," Marcus barked out, in full-blown Sergeant mode. Allena moved to help Anya as she disengaged the hooks, sending a full spray of buckshot into the face of a locust half-way up the wall. It fell without a sound, hitting the ground with a satisfying thump as blood oozed from what had been it's face.

"I'm getting low on ammo here," Sam yelled, slapping a fresh magazine into her lancer.

"See if you can find more laying around," Marcus told her, as Dom moved to cover their six.

"This used to be a watchpoint, check in the crates," Allena called out, shooting down another locust. Her shoulder was starting to ache from the gnasher slapping against it, but she grit her teeth and bore it, shooting again and barely missing a grub on the ground.

"Watch out, we've got Formers behind us," Sam called out. Allena and Anya exchanged glances, both women thinking the same thing- is it ever going to stop?

"Fuck," Allena spat out, as a Former came charging at them from the side. Her and Anya dove out of the way, the Former barely missing them and barreling over the side of the building. Allena spun and finished it off, ducking low as a grub let off a shot at her. The Formers scrambled up onto the rooftop, and it was all any of them could do to fight them off while avoiding getting shot by the locusts.

"Shit, we got glowies, too," Dom yelled, and Allena felt her blood run cold. Lambent humans, she'd encountered plenty of times before, but the lambent locusts she'd only had the displeasure of seeing once, and it had been enough to give her nightmares for a lifetime. Two stalks burst out of the ground, spitting lambent locusts out into the fray.

"Hold 'em off," Marcus told them, ducking down to avoid getting shot before letting a round off into a nearby Former. "We gotta get to the pickup!"

"Shoot the pods," Anya told her, before taking aim herself. Allena followed suite, firing rapidly until the pod on the stalk closest to her exploded. Just as they closed up one stalk, another came bursting right through the center of the platform, splitting the group up. She spotted Marcus chucking a grenade at a part of the wall, the explosion creating a bridge between them and the trucks.

"Run! Get to the other side," he yelled to them. Anya pushed her ahead, covering them as they sprinted for the bridge. Marcus provided additional coverage as they all ran, bullets raining down on them from the lambent and grubs alike. As soon as they touched ground on the other side, Allena and Anya turned to cover the others. Sam came over, and then Marcus, but just as Dom was about to cross another stalk burst out through the bridge, cutting him off from them.

"Dom," Allena screamed, before Anya pulled her back behind a barricade.

"He'll be okay," Anya ensured her, as a spray of bullets flew over their heads.

"We're surrounded," Sam called out, as she ducked to reload.

"There's too many, we aren't gonna make it," Dom called to them, looking across the chasm. Allena looked out at him, desperately wishing she was on the other side, that he wasn't alone.

"Hold them off," Marcus yelled, swatting at a Former with his lancer. "Just hold them off!" Allena popped off another shot at a Former, then ducked down to reload her shotgun. She glanced over at Dom, alarmed when she saw him throw down his shotgun even though an army of Formers stood before him.

"Dom, what are you doing," she found herself screaming. "Dom!" He jumped down into the chasm, out of Allena's sight.

"Dom," Marcus yelled, looking down at his friend. Allena heard the sound of a door slamming shut through the sound of gunfire.

"Get out of there, jump!" Dom called up. Marcus turned to respon, but a hail of bullets brushed too close to him, forcing his attention away from his friend.

"Dom, come back," Allena shouted. Anya grabbed her before she could scramble into the open, pulling her back.

"It's too dangerous," Anya told her, holding her easily with one arm. More stalks burst up into the air, forcing them to duck from the rain of dust and stones that came down on them.

"Dom! Dom, where are you going?!" Allena looked up at Marcus, a sick feeling in her stomach as he tried to contact the other man. More stalks came up, the area swarming with enemies.

"Dom, what the fuck are you doing?!" She watched Marcus pale at the response he got, and whatever was said, it prompted Sam and Anya to their feet.

"We have to go," Anya said, hauling Allena after them. She realized a second later what Dom had planned, her heart rising into her throat.

"No, Dom! Dom stop," she screamed, as Sam and Anya grabbed her and forced her to go with them. "Dom! Marcus, stop him!" Marcus stood on the roof, his back to them as they heard the vehicle tearing closer through the tunnel.

"Dom, no!" Those were the last words she heard before a massive explosion shook the ground, before Anya tossed her into cover behind a container, Sam pulling her in so Anya could squeeze back with them. Heat washed over them as flames shot past on either side, debris raining down on the girls. It felt like eternity before hte explosions finally stopped, the crackle of flames filling the silence. Allena stayed where she was as Sam and Anya went to go get Marcus, their shouts lost to the ringing that filled her ears.

_Dom is gone. Dom is dead._


End file.
